Strings of Hope
by Sentury
Summary: She left her small town in the hope to make a difference, but when her regiment is destroyed Nephenee is taken captive, doubt sets in and with little hope left she needs to make a choice, life or death?


The girl gasped for air as the man's fist connected with the left side of her jaw, causing a small steam of blood to ooze out from her mouth and down her sweat soaked chin. This punishment was by no means new to this Crimean soldier; it had been nearly two weeks since her capture at the hands of the Daein army, and every day was spent in the same miserable fashion. And each day, at the same time, the girl watched in horror as her fellow soldiers were taken from their cells, screaming in agony as they entered the chambers of that dreadful man Danomill.

Many times it was her, she who shook in fear as the guards came and opened her cell, but she would never yell in fear, never beg for them to stop. She saw how they laughed, how much joy it gave them to watch men turn to boys as the General called for their turn... she would not give them that satisfaction.

She did not blame the men who feared the dark rider, the men who feared the pain that this life had given them. Many were much like herself, just a youth fighting a war they had no business fighting. _'No,'_ she thought to herself, '_this _is_ my business, my country, my family.'_ The thought scared her, was she begging to break as well? Was she like all the others, simply waiting for someone to take her life?

Another blow came, this one to her stomach; she suspected that many of her ribs had already broken, making the blow all the more painful.

"Oh there it is girly." The portly man whispered so that only she could hear, "That's the look. The hope, that determination that once filled your eyes is slowly giving way. It only gets worse from here kiddo, go ahead--just ask me for death. What hope could you possibly have left? The Crimean army is all but obliterated, no nobles left to lead them even if any of those worthless fools left alive." He paused, a smile snaking across his fat face, "You put up a good fight that you did, especially given your age. Just let go of that tiny thread you're holding on to."

_'Don't listen to him Nephenee, this is his job--to torture you to make you believe his lies, to make you believe your life is worth nothing'_ She thought to herself, choosing not to answer his statements. But doubt slowly filled her mind, what hope was there really? Her regiment had fallen within seconds to the might that was Daein. Even if there was some hint at a resistance, they couldn't possibly stop these madmen. Tears welled in her eyes; her lids were heavy, her body very much in pain, her heart, once bright with strength, now dull. Her mind wandered slowly away from the dingy prison where she was being kept, floating slowly to a time not so long ago...

"_I gotta go Ma, didn't you hear what they went and did to that other town? Killed the whole lot of 'em, women, children--everybody. Went and burned the city down too."_

"_Baby, what can you do? Just a ord'nary country gal, fighting in the Crimean army... What're you gonna do? Those Daein soldiers ain't the merciful type... I'm begging you, don't go throwin' your life away!"_

_It was easy to see that the girl took much more after her father more than her ,mother, she being a shorter woman with short brown hair with just a hint of gray to revile her age. The green haired girl turned to face her mother, fear and determination in her eyes, and a smile on her face._

"_I 'member when dad was round. He fought, Ma, and he used to tell me stories about all the great things he went and did."_

"_And you know how it ended Nephenee! Sick from all those 'glory' days, all them injures... He just went and died on me! On us."_

_Tears began to form in the mother's eyes as she plead with her first-born child, her baby who'd seen hardly sixteen years, not to leave, coming to her knees as she wept before her one and only baby girl. "Losing you, I couldn't take it."_

_At this, the child walked towards her mother, and with the same smile, looked into her mother's familiar eyes, "I'll be back Ma." She paused for a moment, letting the wind blow through her long, grass colored hair. "Stronger, faster--a soldier. I'll be back, I promise."_

The memory shot through the girl. Was she fading, or was this a wake-up call?

At the same time, another fist connected with her already bleeding jaw, quickly followed up by a series of strikes to her already battered body.

"_Them country folk don't know what they're missin' eh, Neph?" the large man next to her said with a powerful voice that matched his strong appearance. He, like she, wore no armor. _

"_Sure don't." she had replied, gazing back to her small village, and she spoke the truth. From a distance her home town was indeed beautiful, the sun shining brightly over the top of grazing green hills. All of the trees and flowers were in full bloom, sending a variety of petals flying through the air with each small gust of wind. _

"_Your Ma looked pretty shaken back there. I won't think any less of ya if you turned back now. I mean, you're just a kid, they might not even let you in. You don't gotta do this."_

_The girl remained silent for a moment letting, the wind take her for the second time that day. She admired the rolling plains and on the now small image of her farm in the distance. She thought many things at that moment, of her brothers, of her mother, of her now deceased father. _

"_Yeah Brom, I do."_

The girl snapped back to reality sharply once more, yanked once more into the dark torture room.

_'Why?' she thought to herself, 'Is this life flashing before me? Is this…Death?'_

A bead of sweat trickled down from her forehead slowly, and for that moment she was not within this captures grasp but back with her mother as the tear fell from her eye, back on the road with Brom as the petals of a new spring filled the skies. The droplet hit the floor with a quiet splash.

_'No, not death. Its hope.'_

Nephenee lifted her head to look the man in his eyes. The soldier stumbled backward as his prisoner gazed through him, not with fear, not with the plea for death he had expected, but with a grim determination lighting a fire within her eyes. Using what little strength she had, Nephenee muttered to her captor,

"A…promise…Ma... I promised."


End file.
